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   <title>Glossary of terms</title>
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<h1>
Glossary of terms</h1>
It can be confusing when one person refers to the same thing with different
terms, and downright misleading if they refer to different things using
the same term. That's why it's important to choose the right words when
referring to things in comments, code, and documentation.
<p><b>Eclipse</b></p>
<blockquote>Eclipse is the name for the overall project supporting the
construction of integrated tools for developing applications. It represents
a collection of related <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/projects/main.html">projects</a>
that include the <a href="#Platform"> Eclipse Platform,</a> the <a href="#JDT"> Java development tools
  (JDT)</a>, and
the <a href="#PDE"> Plug-in Development Environment (PDE)</a>.</blockquote>
<a NAME="Eclipse Platform"></a><b>Eclipse Platform</b>
<blockquote>Eclipse Platform is the name for&nbsp; the core frameworks
and services upon which plug-in extensions are created. It provides the
runtime in which plug-ins are loaded and run. In order to use the term
with the right degree of (im)precision, it is useful to know some things
about the Platform. First off, the Eclipse Platform itself is not really
a true product that would ship by itself. The Platform's direct consumers
are tool builders, or ISVs, since they add the value to the Eclipse Platform
that makes it useful to people.
<br>
The Eclipse Platform is divided up into <i>Core </i>and <i>UI</i>.
Anything classified as "UI" needs a window system, whereas things classified
as "Core" can run "headless". The UI portion of the Eclipse Platform is
known as the <a href="#Workbench">Workbench</a>. The core portion of the
Eclipse Platform is simply called the <a href="#Core">Platform Core</a>,
or Core.
<br>
So the Eclipse Platform is just the nucleus around which tool builders
build tool plug-ins.
</blockquote>
<b>Eclipse SDK</b>
<blockquote>The Eclipse SDK is the <a href="#Eclipse Platform">Eclipse
Platform</a>, <a href="#JDT">JDT</a>, and <a href="#PDE">PDE</a>.
In addition to the Platform, the SDK provides the development tools required
to, among other things, enable Eclipse to be a development environment
for itself.</blockquote>
<p><a NAME="Platform"></a><b>Platform - </b>Short for "<a href="#Eclipse Platform">Eclipse
Platform</a>".</p>
<a NAME="RCP"></a><b>Rich Client Platform (RCP)</b>
<blockquote>A subset of the <a href="#Eclipse Platform">Eclipse
Platform</a> that forms a generic application framework,
rather than a framework for building development tools.  This subset does
not contain the Resources plug-in, or any UI relating to resources.
</blockquote>
<p><a NAME="Workbench"></a><b>Workbench</b> - Short for "Eclipse Platform
UI".</p>
<blockquote>The Workbench is a high-level UI framework for building products
with sophisticated UIs built from pluggable components. The Workbench is
built atop <a href="#JFace">JFace</a>, <a href="#SWT">SWT</a>, and the
<a href="#Core">Platform
Core</a>.</blockquote>
<a NAME="Core"></a><b>Core</b> - Short for "Eclipse Platform Core".
<blockquote>All the UI-free infrastructure of the <a href="#Eclipse Platform">Eclipse
Platform</a>. The major divisions are: platform runtime and plug-in management,
workspaces and resource management, and version and configuration management.</blockquote>
<a NAME="Runtime"></a><b>Runtime</b> - Short for "Eclipse Platform Core
Runtime".
<blockquote>The lowest level part of the <a href="#Core">Platform Core</a>,
responsible for the plug-in registry and plug-ins. Note that the Platform
Core Runtime does not include workspaces and resources (they're in the
Resources plug-in).</blockquote>
<a NAME="Workspace"></a><b>Workspace</b>
<blockquote>A workspace is the general umbrella for managing resources
in the Eclipse Platform. Note that workspaces and resources are an optional
part of the Platform; some configurations of the Platform will not have
a workspace.</blockquote>
<a NAME="UI"></a><b>UI</b> - Short for "Eclipse Platform UI".
<blockquote>All-inclusive term for the UI portion of the <a href="#Eclipse Platform">Eclipse
Platform</a>.</blockquote>
<a NAME="JFace"></a><b>JFace</b>
<blockquote>JFace is the mid-level UI framework useful for building complex
UI pieces such as property viewers. JFace works in conjunction with <a href="#SWT">SWT</a>.</blockquote>
<a NAME="SWT"></a><b>SWT</b>
<blockquote>SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit) is a small, fast widget toolkit
with a portable API and a native implementation. Currently, SWT is available on
Windows, Linux (GTK), AIX (GTK), Solaris (GTK),
HP-UX (GTK), and Mac OS X (Cocoa).</blockquote>
<a name="JDT"><b>JDT</b>
</a>
<blockquote>Java development tools (n.b. &quot;development tools&quot; in
  lowercase, for legal reasons) adds Java program development capability to the
  Eclipse Platform.</blockquote>

<a name="PDE"><b>PDE</b>
</a>
<blockquote>The Plug-in Development Environment adds specialized tools for
  developing Eclipse plug-ins.</blockquote>
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